And now for something different! No one wants to look back to last year, for many reasons, the least of which was the condition of capital markets and the state of personal investment portfolios. And the worst, September 11.

But first, as you may have read, many of the surviving families of the victims of 9/11 have received donations made by thousands of sympathetic corporations and world citizens. Some of these checques are for more than a million dollars. It has actually been stated recently that this appears to be excessive restitution.

Such remarks are so hard to believe. It isn't as if these families planned to capitalise on having their Daddy or their Mommy jump from the World Trade Tower. Or, that they planned to remember for the rest of their days the terrified screams of passengers in a doomed jet as their soul mates (in extreme courage) thought not of himself/herself, but of their loved ones by calling to say goodbye.

Sometimes, the power of money overcomes all boundaries, but wouldn't you be willing to bet that these survivors would rather have their families kept intact? Buying and acquiring things does not heal your soul.

Having said that, it seems that many investors are cliff-hanging right now, reluctant to re-enter the market, afraid of losing capital, but hating the low interest rate environment. There are four categories of investors; those that stayed fully invested and were diversified (I emphasise diversified) and have seen their portfolios recouped to par, and are now looking a market pop.

The second group left the market for various reasons. Some made profits and are sitting on cash. The third group, not too badly burned but a whole lot wiser, and the fourth group, who may have either sold out or hung on, but it made no difference; they have seen their portfolio cut in half, and may never play the market again.

The second and third group want to move back in, but just when? "I want to time the market", they say. All right, for those who do, here is a theoretical way to go about it. Caution: even if you run this game in a composite fashion rather than using real money and real stocks, it will give you some additional insight into how capital markets fluctuate and more importantly, into your own emotional responses.

Oh yes, your behaviour is almost as important as the strategy, because when you play this game, you have to stick to the strategy. Unfortunately, sometimes investors get sentimental and just can't give up a stock they "just looove", or they try and outguess market patterns.

Another caveat: this is an adaptation of several different technical or momentum traders. It is not a foolproof method of making money in the stock market. You will have to refine and develop your own methodology to do that.

One of the technical analysts that I track stated that while fundamentals and momentum matter, in the end, if you fall into buying and selling on emotion, you are succumbing to typical investor psychological behaviour. He called it 'voting for the prom queen", in that investors almost attributed 'human qualities' to some perceived great stock. The enamoured investor kept it because it was so attractive, forgetting that every prom queen loses to next year's champion (well, most of the time).

How does market timing work? A very basic premise centres on the stock's moving average, generally 100 a day, or 200 a day moving average. How is that computed? Almost any investment website can pull up a chart for certain time frames for any stock listed in US capital markets.

1. If you feel that the stock you are watching is undervalued and will start a recovery, here is where to start.

2. You must create a spreadsheet with the ending Market Value for your stock choice for every market day going back 100 days.

3. Add all the values up and divide by 100. This is your 100-day average.

4. Each day going forward, you drop the 100th average MV, that is the oldest value and add in the newest, then divide by 100. This is your 100-day moving average. It is extremely important that you price the stock every market open day, at the same time of day, generally the close of market will do.

5. BUY the stock when the most recent closing price is above the 100-day moving average. This is a buy.

6. You must still continue your moving average computations, every market day.

7. SELL the stock when the most recent closing price is below the 100-day moving average.

8. Hold your proceeds in cash until the closing price moves above the average and the process starts again.

9. Finally, if the stock you are tracking is active, you may rotate in and out of the market five or six times in a year. Commissions will be higher than a buy and hold strategy.

As you may surmise, this game is dependent upon your ability to maintain a spreadsheet (and your determination) and to monitor this stock (of course, by now you will have several) on a daily basis. You may need to upgrade those computer skills.

Sounds so simple why don't more people do this? Because most important, you have to stick to the rules. If the closing price drops below the average, according to the formula, it is time to sell.

Does this limit your profit when that stock was just way up there and you hate, just hate to sell it? Maybe, maybe not, but investors get attached to their winners, forgetting that not rotating (parting with) them, can be costly if the market turns. Technical analysts and strict investors use trading disciplines such as these without wavering, with very successful results.

For those unwilling to do the tracking themselves, there are many investing websites that will track for you, notifying you when to buy, sell or hold, all for a price. You have the option of trading in equities, or another popular model, timing sector no-load mutual funds.

Timing may reduce returns in many sectors, such as semiconductors and biotechnology, but improve in real estate, utilities, etc. Generally, in almost every case, timing rotation reduces risk, unless you go along with the sales pitch that along with rotating in and out of the market; you also leverage your investments for a higher gain. This concept is far more risky.

If you plan to try this, keep several things in mind: Research as much as you can Develop a strategy and stay with it: Be very careful about leveraging; you are borrowing money, if you lose, you will have to pay it back: If you trade with a US broker, remember that with these methods almost all trades are short-term, thereby subject to US withholding tax at 30 percent for offshore persons.

There are other methods that other investors swear by, this is just one hypothetical example And if you are planning on doing this from work, where you can trade quickly, you may not be so popular if this practice is frowned upon.

Martha Harris Myron CPA CFP is a Certified Financial Planner (TM) (US) practitioner. She holds a NASD Series 7 license, has US tax experience, and is the 2001 Winner of The Bermudian Magazine Best of Bermuda Gold Award for Investment Advice. Confidential Email can be directed to marthamyronnorthrock.bm The article expresses the opinion of the author alone. Under no circumstances is this advice to be taken as recommendations to buy or sell investment products or as a promotion for financial plans. The Editor of the Royal Gazette has final right of approval over headlines, content, and length/brevity of article.